2010 Vancouver

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XXI Olympic Winter Games

As a third-time Olympic host, Canada sent its largest ever Winter Games team to Vancouver and earned a record number of medals.

Clara Hughes, the only athlete to ever win multiple medals at both the Summer and Winter Games, was given the honour of carrying the Canadian flag into the Opening Ceremony at BC Place. She would go on to record her sixth career Olympic medal, bronze in long track speed skating’s 5000m event, tying her as Canada’s most decorated Olympian with fellow speed skater Cindy Klassen. That was one of 26 medals won by the Canadian Olympic Team in Vancouver, the most the country has ever won at a Winter Games. The Games were capped by Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal”, the overtime winner in men’s ice hockey against the United States that gave Canada its 14th gold medal of the Games, the most any country has ever won at a single Winter Games. Figure skater Joannie Rochette captured the hearts of all Canadians by winning a bronze medal just days after the sudden death of her mother and was given the honour of being the country’s flag bearer at the Closing Ceremony.

In total, Canada collected 14 gold, seven silver and five bronze medals. Canada also recorded an all-time high of 71 top-eight finishes, which included 23 fourth- and fifth-place finishes (including medals). Both of those figures led all countries at the 2010 Games. Canada’s medals were won in nine different sports while top-eight finishes were recorded in 13 of the 15 sports on the Olympic program.

History will be made in 2016 when Rio de Janeiro, Brazil hosts the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, marking the first time that a South American country will welcome the world to an Olympic Games. It is also just the third time that the Games will be held in the southern hemisphere, following Melbourne 1956 and Sydney 2000.